Why, oh, why, isn’t he doing better? Sniff….(plus B0=Reagan)

And it is back again as he returns from an overseas trip that even Republicans have described as politically triumphant. In this case, the question is why — given how sour Americans feel about President Bush and the Republican party, and the perception that Mr. Obama is running a better campaign than Senator John McCain — the senator from Illinois is not scoring even higher in national opinion polls.

Earlier I noticed the usually astute Novak marveling at the same obvious question

That he lingers below the 50 percent mark is a mystery among politicians in both parties.

Patriot Room has one obvious answer:

How about he’s a nobody with no experience doing anything? Pretty easy answer. But the Times needs to consult big-time official pollsters to tell us what any 6th grader can see.

Some analysts said that Mr. Obama could be like Ronald Reagan in 1980. Mr. Reagan was up against an unpopular incumbent, President Jimmy Carter, who for all his weaknesses was a known quantity. Only after Mr. Reagan persuaded voters that he was credible as a president did the polls break in his direction

Patriot Room is more inclined to see shades of Mondale

Even Mr. Obama’s advisers say they are uneasy about his difficulty so far in breaking the 50 percent barrier — a reminder, in poll after poll, that there many Americans who are not yet ready to cast their lot with him, and may never be.